Elisangela Borborema Rosah, who was shot in the mouth with a harpoon by her husband, came within a centimeter of death. (Photo: Facebook)

A woman who took a harpoon to the mouth came within one centimeter of death.

Brazilian officials say that the husband of Elisangela Borborema Rosa, 28, was cleaning his spear gun when it accidentally went off. The harpoon hit her cervical spine.

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According to the Rio de Janeiro State Health Department, Rosa underwent emergency surgery in the city of Arrial do Cabo, and is expected to make a full recovery. But if the harpoon had landed slightly differently, it would have been a much different story.

"The peculiarity of the accident is that the tip of harpoon penetrated the region between her top vertebrae and the spinal cord," said Allan da Costa from Rio de Janeiro's health department. If the harpoon had hit just one centimeter to one side, "the patient would have become a quadriplegic. If it had hit 1cm to the other side or reached one artery to the brain, she would have been dead."

While police are looking into the case, it appears to be an accident.

"Everything indicates it was an accident, but we are investigating," said an Arrial do Cabo police officer. "We don't think the husband tried to kill her. But once she fully recovers we will be able to question her and get a clearer picture of what happened."

Somewhat shockingly, this is the second time within a month that a Brazilian has been shot in the face while cleaning a speargun and survived. On April 21, Bruno Barcellos de Souza Coutinho, 34, accidentally discharged his speargun into his skull, through his left eye socket and into his brain. For reasons beyond anyone's comprehension, de Souza Coutinho didn't go to the hospital until the next day, after a relative urged him to go.

(One cannot imagine how that conversation possibly went, but it was probably along the lines of, "Do you think you should go to the hospital to get that harpoon removed from your brain?" "No." "Okay, well I really think you should." "Yeah, I guess I will.")

De Souza Coutinho lost vision in one eye but did not suffer brain damage.